What a great day! Chris was discharged today around 2pm and I got to have him home and watch the Seahawks game with him. He tried really hard to go to the game but was wise to not push it after a week in a hospital bed. Although he has had a fever come and go every evening, they decided today to let him go home with a bunch of antibiotics. He hasn't had any sign of a fever yet tonight (knock on wood!) so hopefully the timing was good to leave the hospital.
What a game! Hope most of you got to see it.
Go Hawks!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Chris Told Me to Stop Saying He's Going Home Each Day
Guess I keep jinxing it because each day I say that hopefully Chris will be home the next day and he's still not home. He went from IV antibiotics to oral ones today but then his fever spiked again tonight. We will see if he needs another procedure tomorrow once the hospitalist consults with the GI doc. Otherwise he is feeling and looking pretty good considering.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Hopefully Home Soon
Chris is still in the hospital due to his fever spiking three times yesterday. The doctors have said it is not abnormal for this to happen and they have him on some powerful IV antibiotics. So far today, he has not had any fever. The optimistic outlook from the GI doc is that he will be able to start oral antibiotics tomorrow and be home by tomorrow evening. The conservative outlook by the hospitalist doc is that he may continue on IV antibiotics another couple days so remain in the hospital until the weekend. Just so he makes the Seahawk game on Sat evening!!! Go Hawks! :)
The GI doc told me that they drained two and a half liters of bile out of his gall bladder on Monday and that he had never seen a gall bladder as big as Chris's was with all that fluid and inflammation! Think about a two liter of soda...wow, that's a lot of bile. No wonder Chris lost a lot of his lopsided 'pooch'!
They did another CT scan last night because of the fevers. There is still some inflammation and bile in the gall bladder but so far nothing out of the margin of what they might expect. The stent looks to be in the right place and hopefully is not leaking bile anywhere as that would be a problem.
Dr. Picozzi, the VM oncologist, is going to set up the PET scan and an appointment to review in a couple weeks, allowing Chris some time to recover. We'll see what is next at that point.
Today Chris seem to be doing well and even ate French toast and a poached egg for breakfast. Considering he has been having such a hard time eating lately, that was a feast and he said it wasn't hard to eat it. Hopefully an indication that this week was worth it and he'll be able to enjoy some food again.
The GI doc told me that they drained two and a half liters of bile out of his gall bladder on Monday and that he had never seen a gall bladder as big as Chris's was with all that fluid and inflammation! Think about a two liter of soda...wow, that's a lot of bile. No wonder Chris lost a lot of his lopsided 'pooch'!
They did another CT scan last night because of the fevers. There is still some inflammation and bile in the gall bladder but so far nothing out of the margin of what they might expect. The stent looks to be in the right place and hopefully is not leaking bile anywhere as that would be a problem.
Dr. Picozzi, the VM oncologist, is going to set up the PET scan and an appointment to review in a couple weeks, allowing Chris some time to recover. We'll see what is next at that point.
Today Chris seem to be doing well and even ate French toast and a poached egg for breakfast. Considering he has been having such a hard time eating lately, that was a feast and he said it wasn't hard to eat it. Hopefully an indication that this week was worth it and he'll be able to enjoy some food again.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Successful Surgery
Chris's surgery today went well. They used a new procedure to put a stent in between his gall bladder and small intestine to help the gall bladder drain. They also drained out the fluid that had built up in his gall bladder. We can already see the difference! Chris no longer has a big pooch on his right side. He is doing well eating his broth and Jello, which is a good sign too as he hasn't had any kind of an appetite recently. If he doesn't get nauseated or start throwing up, he gets to advance to lowfat foods tonight or tomorrow morning. He'll get to go home tomorrow afternoon if no complications. The GI doctor thinks everything went extremely well today so we are hopeful that will happen.
We haven't seen Dr. Picozzi, the oncologist, yet today. We are interested to find out next steps and will keep you updated as we find out more.
Chris is very, very touched by all of the well wishes and help that everyone is offering. He wants to let everyone know he is moved by all of you and it means so much to him, to us.
With love,
Wendy
We haven't seen Dr. Picozzi, the oncologist, yet today. We are interested to find out next steps and will keep you updated as we find out more.
Chris is very, very touched by all of the well wishes and help that everyone is offering. He wants to let everyone know he is moved by all of you and it means so much to him, to us.
With love,
Wendy
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Hope Everyone Had a Special Holiday
Hope you all had a merry Christmas and happy New Year! We are back from travels after spending time in beautiful places and with many of our family members.
Chris has been seeing a new oncologist since we've been back as his CT scan showed that the cancer in his body has been growing again. We were very surprised and didn't really expect to hear that so soon as the cancer markers in his blood had been going down so much. His oncologist at Swedish, Dr Gold, referred us both to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and Virginia Mason (VM) this time to see if there were any trials that Chris could qualify for. SCCA did not have any at this time though they are still watching for one. Virginia Mason wanted to see him so we went in on Friday to visit Dr. Picozzi, who was supportive in a way that we were not expecting. He said that there were still several options for Chris to try, which was encouraging. The first thing that they want to do is to drain his gallbladder because it's been causing him increasing discomfort and interfering with his eating and sleeping. We were very surprised to get a call today from Dr Picozzi stating that a group of doctors had reviewed Chris's case last night and had agreed that they could put a drain in internally and that should ease some of his issues.
What they are going to do is have Chris check in to the hospital tomorrow and he will have surgery first thing on Monday. If all goes well, he will be able to come home perhaps as early as Tuesday.
The next thing that they want to do is a PET scan, which Chris has not yet had. This will tell them where exactly the cancer is. The third thing they want to do is try to determine the true type of cancer that Chris has. It seems it is still in question whether Chris has gallbladder cancer or pancreatic cancer. Dr Picozzi stated that depending on the type of cancer they may have a trial that Chris could qualify for.
I have also been on the National Institute of Health (NIH) website which lists cancer trials going on all over the United States for different types of cancer. I did find that there is a hospital in Vancouver Washington (I believe it might be Peace Health but I can't remember for sure at the moment), that has a trial for gallbladder cancer. Dr. Picozzi asked me to bring in the information I've found about this trial in the event that it may be the best match for Chris's type of cancer.
For now, Chris isn't getting any more chemo treatments, as he has to be at least four weeks 'clean' from chemo in order to participate in a trial. He hasn't had a chemo since before the holidays so he can start a trial anytime now.
Thank you for continuing to support and encourage us with your positive thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray that God will work through these talented doctors, nurses and technicians to heal Chris.
With love,
Wendy
Chris has been seeing a new oncologist since we've been back as his CT scan showed that the cancer in his body has been growing again. We were very surprised and didn't really expect to hear that so soon as the cancer markers in his blood had been going down so much. His oncologist at Swedish, Dr Gold, referred us both to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and Virginia Mason (VM) this time to see if there were any trials that Chris could qualify for. SCCA did not have any at this time though they are still watching for one. Virginia Mason wanted to see him so we went in on Friday to visit Dr. Picozzi, who was supportive in a way that we were not expecting. He said that there were still several options for Chris to try, which was encouraging. The first thing that they want to do is to drain his gallbladder because it's been causing him increasing discomfort and interfering with his eating and sleeping. We were very surprised to get a call today from Dr Picozzi stating that a group of doctors had reviewed Chris's case last night and had agreed that they could put a drain in internally and that should ease some of his issues.
What they are going to do is have Chris check in to the hospital tomorrow and he will have surgery first thing on Monday. If all goes well, he will be able to come home perhaps as early as Tuesday.
The next thing that they want to do is a PET scan, which Chris has not yet had. This will tell them where exactly the cancer is. The third thing they want to do is try to determine the true type of cancer that Chris has. It seems it is still in question whether Chris has gallbladder cancer or pancreatic cancer. Dr Picozzi stated that depending on the type of cancer they may have a trial that Chris could qualify for.
I have also been on the National Institute of Health (NIH) website which lists cancer trials going on all over the United States for different types of cancer. I did find that there is a hospital in Vancouver Washington (I believe it might be Peace Health but I can't remember for sure at the moment), that has a trial for gallbladder cancer. Dr. Picozzi asked me to bring in the information I've found about this trial in the event that it may be the best match for Chris's type of cancer.
For now, Chris isn't getting any more chemo treatments, as he has to be at least four weeks 'clean' from chemo in order to participate in a trial. He hasn't had a chemo since before the holidays so he can start a trial anytime now.
Thank you for continuing to support and encourage us with your positive thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray that God will work through these talented doctors, nurses and technicians to heal Chris.
With love,
Wendy
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